Right, I've come to a decision that it's time to move the Xantia on.
I had been thinking about doing so next year anyway (so that we could get a car for Sara if she gets her license) and was hoping to get one last year out of it but I'm going to throw in the towel and move on.
I've just been out to try to do the front brakes (which I already bought new discs and pads for) and discovered that the top calliper slide bolts are completely rounded. Not rounded by me as I haven't put a socket on them yet, but rounded by rust.
When I wire brushed it to try to reveal the hex there is just nothing - it's completely smooth and round as if there was never a hex there.
On it's own this wouldn't be the end of the car and I'm sure some of you are thinking "pfft! that's nothing!" but it's just the end of a long string of problems that is the final straw for me.
If anyone is wanting one of the last few functioning Xantia V6's on the road send me a PM to discuss, as I would rather it go to a welcoming home that would appreciate it than be scrapped.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow showing the good and bad, and perhaps someone with a garage and more time on their hands can get more enjoyment out of it than me because to be honest it has been a bit of a chore for the last few years now as I've got older and found it more difficult to work on cars and have got progressively busier and busier in life, and rust is making every mechanical job a chore now, like the brake work.
When I could still use it as a backup car it was worth doing and it has always been a fantastic car to drive, but now that it's banned from Glasgow city centre due to the LEZ I can't use it as a backup means of transport to work anymore so it has lost much of its utility.
I'm also getting a huge amount of flack from my other half about the time and money I spend on the car every year for so little use and she has wanted me to get rid of it for years now...
Here is a quick list of the good and bad for anyone interested to mull over, and I can go into more details later.
The Good:
Aside from the pinhole in the sump the engine is running great, (at 95k) and as far as I know, it does not have leaky cam boxes.
The longstanding issue I had with the ignition intermittently cutting out momentarily causing stalls/drops in power was finally tracked down to a new NGK coil pack that I fitted new about 7 years ago that apparently went faulty - I refitted the original Sagem one and that problem has completely gone, and the engine is performing very nicely. (I have two other spare coil packs as well)
The gearbox despite seeming like it was going to fail nearly 5 years ago seems to be running nicely now. I put this down to several factors - a couple of oil changes including some Lubeguard, (that stuff really does work on old auto boxes) cleaning the electrical connector for the gearbox ECU (it had white corrosion that may have been affecting the signals to the solenoids) and also the swap of the engine coil pack as some of the symptoms I had been pinning on the gearbox were almost certainly the momentary drops in power from the engine due to the ignition coil fault.
The suspension is all in good order, the front spheres may be getting a little low now (although they are the 3 dimple long life types) but it still rides well and rear spheres were all fitted about 2 years ago so are in great condition. The hydractive system all works fine including the solenoids.
About the only problem with the suspension is the pivot pin on the rear height corrector spring mechanism is badly worn, this causes the pivot to tilt when the suspension moves, this causes lost motion in one direction which results in the rear height being slow to adjust in the downwards direction which causes the bum of the car to ride high for a few seconds after releasing the throttle form heavy acceleration. A new pivot pin and overhaul of that linkage mechanism would see that right and it was on my to-do list but never made it the top of the list.
The electrical systems in the car are all working, all the instruments, the radio, electric windows and electric seats, with the following exceptions - I had to unplug the steering wheel controls for the radio as the cable is damaged and was randomly changing stations, and the intermittent wipe setting for the wipers occasionally does not work but it's so infrequent that I have not been able to troubleshoot it as every time I think I'm going to look for it it works fine.
The air conditioning is working however it does have a quirk that it has had for years now that I can't figure out - it will not engage the compressor for about the first 3 minutes after the engine has started (the light is green but the compressor is not triggered) but will work fine after that. This is more apparent in mild weather. I thought it might be related to low gas pressure but it still did it after it was last re-gassed. Once it's going it blows very cold (evaporator temperature about 4 degrees) so doesn't seem to be low on gas. A new compressor was fitted in 2020 at significant expense when the original one failed spectacularly with a snapped shaft.
After both a leaking heater matrix AND a leaking windscreen in the last few years the it has had a new heater matrix and a new windscreen and is now leak free. When this was done all the carpets were removed, washed, the floor dried out and refitted so there is no water in the foam.
The Bad:
Rust.
Surprisingly the usual place where these rust inside the rear door shut area is NOT rusted, however the rear wheel arches are badly rusted with the rear right having a big hole and a piece that is ready to fall off. The left hand side has a lot of bubbling in the paint work. There's some bubbling on the front wheel arches as well.
Underneath the main body is not rusted due to the underseal, however the suspension chassis areas and suspension arms have a lot of surface rust as would be expected at 26 years old. As noted the brake caliper bolts are rusted such that I can't get the top ones out.
Front discs have delaminated sections at the edge that causes a lot of noise and vibration when braking at speed that won't naturally scuff out over time hence the need to fit new disks. Rear brakes seem to be working OK just need bleeding.
As a result of the leaking window and heater matrix (now fixed) moisture damaged the adhesive for the headlining so the headlining is fallen down and touches the top of my head....so it will need the headlining out and re-gluing somehow.
TIMING BELT. The timing belt is still well within its mileage but is way, WAY past is due date by many, many years and needs to be done ASAP.
Missing plastic back on the left hand wing mirror. It fell off one day and was never seen again...
Spare wheel carrier is still intact but seriously rusted out and really needs repairs or replacing.
The outer layer of the double layer exhaust pipes under the engine is eaten through in multiple places exposing the inner layer however the inner layer is not compromised so it doesn't leak. (yet)
Tyres are down to the tread limit on the outside and may fail this time.
Current MOT expires on August 21st and the car is still drivable aside from the slow oil leak from the sump pan.
I have many spare parts to go with it including:
New front pads and discs not yet fitted.
Multiple second hand coil packs.
Front right lower suspension arm (new, bought to try to fix a clonk in the front right suspension but never fitted)
Spare rear height corrector and cradle. (Cradle needs repairs)
Many other miscellaneous parts I have accumulated.
A set of four spare alloy wheels originally obtained to fit winter tyres but never used. (Condition so-so)
(But also a day I was already off work so good timing)
